De La Rosa v. US

• Decision Date: 20 January 1994
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 91-2506(RLA).
• Citation: 842 F. Supp. 607
• Parties: Igartua de la ROSA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico

842 F. Supp. 607

Igartua de la ROSA, et al., Plaintiffs, v. UNITED STATES of America, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 91-2506(RLA).

United States District Court, D. Puerto Rico.

January 20, 1994.

Gregorio Igartúa de la Rosa, Aguadilla, PR, for plaintiffs.

Silvia Carreño Col, Asst. U.S. Atty., U.S. Attorney's Office, Hato Rey, PR, Michael J. Haungs, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, DC, for defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

ACOSTA, District Judge.

This is an action filed by residents of Puerto Rico who wish to vote for the President and the Vice President of the United States. Some of the plaintiffs have always resided in Puerto Rico and have never participated in presidential elections. Others had exercised their right to vote while residing in a state of the union but have become ineligible because of their change of residence to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The complaint alleges that the inability to vote in the presidential elections violates their constitutional rights and seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against the United States.

The Court has before it defendants' Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings (docket No. 12)¹ alleging, in essence, that the complaint does not state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and also that the complaint impermissibly seeks an advisory opinion from this Court regarding the constitutionality of legislation which has not been enacted. Plaintiffs have filed their Opposition (docket No. 16), and a Supplementary Motion thereto (docket No. 24).

Upon careful consideration of the arguments advanced by the parties, this Court finds that this action should be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.

RELEVANT CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS

Article II of the Constitution of the United States provides that "each state shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors ..." U.S. Const. Art. II § 1 (our emphasis). The Electors appointed by the states, and not the voting public, are the ones who vote for, and elect, the President and Vice President of the United States. Id. The Constitution further provides that only states and, through the Twenty-Third Amendment, the District of Columbia, may cast electoral votes in presidential elections. U.S. Const. Art. II, § 1; amend. XXIII.

In 1974, this District Court faced a similar constitutional challenge to that now presented by plaintiffs; the same was rejected as plainly without merit. Sánchez v. United States, 376 F.Supp. 239, 241 (D.P.R.1974). This Court held:

Although plaintiff is a U.S. citizen, under the Constitution of the United States the President is not chosen directly by the citizens, but by the electoral colleges in the States and the District of Columbia ... The whole thrust of this is that the Constitution does not by its terms, grant citizens the right to vote, but leaves the matter entirely to the States.

Id.

A more recent challenge by residents of Guam was, likewise, rejected. "The right to vote in presidential elections under Article II inheres not in citizens but in states." Attorney General of the Territory of Guam v. United States, 738 F.2d 1017, 1019 (9th Cir. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1209, 105 S.Ct. 1174, 84 L.Ed.2d 323 (1985). The Ninth Circuit concluded that the Constitution "does not grant to American citizens the right to elect the President." Id. "Since Guam concededly is not a state, it can have no electors, and plaintiffs cannot exercise individual votes in a presidential election. There is no constitutional violation." Id.

Therefore, granting U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico the right to vote in presidential elections would require either that Puerto Rico become a state, or that a constitutional amendment, similar to the Twenty-Third Amendment, be adopted. Territory of Guam, 738 F.2d at 1019; Sánchez v. United States, 376 F.Supp. at 242. As of this date, Puerto Rico has not become a state, neither has a constitutional amendment been adopted granting Puerto Rico the right to vote in presidential elections, as was specifically accorded to the District of Columbia.

THE POLITICAL QUESTION DOCTRINE

In order to circumvent the constitutional provisions cited above, plaintiffs contend that "Puerto Rico's present political status has evolved in such a way from a Territory in 1898 to that of a `de facto' state," and that consequently, it should be considered a state entitled to electoral votes. See Opposition at 2. This argument, as defendant points out, presents a political question not suitable for judicial resolution.

The political question doctrine, which is an aspect of the Court's Article III jurisdiction, is premised upon the separation of powers among the three coordinate branches of government and the inherent limits of judicial power. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 210, 82 S.Ct. 691, 706, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962); Chicago & Southern Air Lines, Inc. v. Waterman Steamship Corp., 333 U.S. 103, 111, 68 S.Ct. 431, 436, 92 L.Ed. 568 (1948); United States ex rel. Joseph v. Cannon, 642 F.2d 1373, 1379 (D.C.Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 999, 102 S.Ct. 1630, 71 L.Ed.2d 865 (1982).

In Baker v. Carr, the Supreme Court identified six "formulations" that signal the presence of issues which are committed to the political branches:

Prominent on the surface of any case held to involve a political question is found 1 a textually demonstrable constitutional commitment of the issue to a coordinate political department; or 2 a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards for resolving it; or 3 the impossibility of deciding without an initial policy determination of a kind clearly for nonjudicial discretion; or 4 the impossibility of a court's undertaking independent resolution without expressing lack of the respect due coordinate branches of government; or 5 an unusual need for unquestioning adherence to a political decision already made; or 6 the potentiality of embarrassment from multifarious pronouncements by various departments on one question.

369 U.S. at 217, 82 S.Ct. at 710.

"Implicating any one of these factors renders a question `political' and thus nonjusticiable." United States v. Mandel, 914 F.2d 1215, 1222 (9th Cir.1990). A nonjusticiable case must be dismissed as not presenting a "case" or "controversy" under Article III of the Constitution. See 369 U.S. at 198, 217, 82 S.Ct. at 710. Article III courts have a limited scope of jurisdiction, and will only decide upon matters that constitute a case or controversy. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2204, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975).

A complaint must set forth an actual case and controversy for judicial review. By seeking to obtain electoral votes for Puerto Rico as if it were a state, plaintiffs are requesting that this Court disregard the balance between the three coordinate branches of government, and the Article III courts' inherent limits of judicial power. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. at 210, 82 S.Ct. at 706.

A determination on whether or not Puerto Rico's political status has evolved into "de facto" statehood for purposes of presidential elections would correspond to Congress. The text of the Constitution specifically commits the decision to create new states to Congress: "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union." U.S. Const. Art. IV, § 3 (our emphasis). In seeking to have Puerto Rico recognized as a "de facto state," plaintiffs seek to thrust the Court into a decision the Constitution specifically entrusts to the legislative branch of government.

Moreover, no standards exist by which a Court can or should decide what is or is not a "de facto" state. Whether Puerto Rico should be considered a "de facto" state for purposes of presidential elections is a question characterized by "a lack of judicially discoverable and manageable standards" for its resolution. Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. at 217, 82 S.Ct. at 710.

Any attempt by this Court to determine whether Puerto Rico has sufficient attributes of statehood so as to be a state for purposes of Article II, § 1 would involve "an initial policy determination of a kind clearly for nonjudicial discretion." Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. at 217, 82 S.Ct. at 710. Since the question of the political status of Puerto Rico has been the subject of debate both on the Island and in Congress, it is up to the legislative branch to make the initial policy determination regarding this matter.

Consequently, and pursuant to the political question doctrine, this Court will not enter into a matter that clearly pertains to Congress. Article III courts have historically avoided altering the balance between the three branches of government. See Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. at 498, 95 S.Ct. at 2204. If plaintiffs wish to obtain a determination on whether or not Puerto Rico has become a "de facto" state for the purpose of presidential elections, they should address their views and concerns to the Congress of the United States, and not to this Court.

ABSENTEE VOTING

Plaintiffs' second argument for the proposition that residents of Puerto Rico should be afforded the right to vote in presidential elections pertains to absentee balloting. In the complaint, nine of the twelve plaintiffs allege that although they previously qualified to vote in presidential elections by virtue of their residence in various states, they have lost this right upon relocating to Puerto Rico.

Plaintiffs also contend that "federal election qualification of absentee voters are clearly and unquestionably promulgated by Congress, not states," and that federal law alone determines who may vote by absentee ballot in federal elections. See Opposition at 14. Plaintiffs further argue that the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1973ff to ff-6 ("the Act") is unconstitutional, as it allows absentee voting by overseas citizens, but not by state residents who have relocated in Puerto Rico.

While federal law places...